Beginning Chant Selections

September 19, 2011

I was thinking today of an attempt I made a while ago to make a list of easier or representative chants for each of the genres used at Mass. Hypothetically they would be useful as a introduction to the chant repertoire which one could learn, or sing through with a class. Thus:

Offertory: Justitiae Domini (Third Sunday of Lent), mode 4 (this for no particular reason, except that it was the first one I did besides the requiem one)

Sanctus: one of the commonly used Masses (I; possibly IX or XVII for the sake of modes 5 and 6; not the super-simple XVIII)

Agnus Dei: ditto

Communion: Amen dico vobis (23rd and last Sunday after Pentecost), mode 1 (first thing that comes to mind, because it is also sung on the 24th, 25th, 26th, etc.)

Endnote: Starting with Credo I, the suggestions go downhill. Or uphill. And there should be something in mode 3. Bother. Also, for an introduction to chant, it might be best to do all the chants for a particular Mass (such as the requiem Mass) and thus give a more coherent overview. Did I also mention that there are difficulty and stylistic differences between, say, a Gradual and a Gloria? That is another post altogether.